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Monday, November 18, 2019

Intermittent Fasting: Fountain of Youth

It was Tracy Tay, my personal trainer, who taught me about intermittent fasting. In intermittent fasting, I fast from 6 pm at night to 11 am the next day. This means I go 17 hrs without food. At first, I did it to lose weight.

However, since I pair it with about 1000 calories to 1500 calories worth of cycling per day, plus various strength exercises, I am not losing weight. I gain weight but lose inches. It can be demoralising to fast, and see nothing happening on the bathroom scales. So, I almost gave up.

Then, I realised a few things...
- I was not falling sick as often as my kids were falling sick.
- My skin tone improved. My hair looked better.
- I seemed to react less violently to foods that used to make me really ill.
- I was mentally sharper.

So, I did some readings off the internet. I found that intermittent fasting...
- Improves immunity.
- Speeds up cell renewal.
- Reduces inflammation in cases of auto-immune diseases.

My readings reported other benefits which I did not notice but I do believe I experienced because of overall improvement to health...
- Cancer fighting.
- Better glucose regulation.

Boosts Immunity 
Dr. Yasmine Belkaid found that when mice fasted, their T cells and B cells (cells responsible for creating immunity against past infections by recognising and destroying pathogens previously encountered) disappeared entirely from the bloodstream and organs. They had gone to hide inside the bone marrow. The bone marrow is a nutrient rich environment for T cells and B cells. When the body started feeding again, these cells emerged from the bone marrow supercharged.

When Dr. Belkaid introduced a pathogen, fasting mice got well in 2 days. Non-fasting mice needed a week to overcome the infection.

On fasting days, I eat only from 11am to 6pm daily. This means, I fast for 17 hrs and eat only within the window of 7 hrs. Looking at Dr. Belkaid's research, it appears that my T and B cells get supercharged daily during the 17 hrs of fasting. So, now, I know why I can throw off a bug in 2 days when my kids drag on for 2 weeks.

On days when I have morning meetings, I will take a low carb breakfast of tea and soybean curd. No sweets before 11am and no sweets after 6pm.

Cell Renewal 
Dr. Valter Longo found that during fasting, damaged body cells are destroyed. When the body re-feeds, stem cells turn on and the body regenerates new and healthy cells. Dr. Longo writes of multi-system regeneration. In short, fasting forces the body to clean out low performing cells, and generate new cells faster.

No wonder my skin looks better. In fact, my complexion and hair have improved so much that I am getting compliments from men 20 years younger than I am. One fruit vendor smiled at me appreciatively and said, "You are a beautiful as my fresh mangos." Of course, we all know he was trying to sell me his mangos. Thank goodness he was not selling cuts of fresh pig. I wonder what he might have said then.

Another appreciative shopkeeper selling pots and pans waggled his eyebrows and then winked at me when he caught my eye. I am quite shocked. When did Singaporean men become like French men?

Lessened Inflammation 
Dr. Vassiliki Boussiotis reports that patients with rheumatoid arthritis reported less pain when fasting during the month of Ramadan. Studying the phenomenon, Dr. Miriam found that monocytes (white blood cells that attack pathogens) all went to hide inside the bone marrow during fasting. Monocytes are really good at inducing inflammation. With fewer monocytes in the bloodstream, patients with auto-immune conditions such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, experienced less pain. I have an auto-immune condition. My immune system attacks my gut lining and my thyroid whenever I eat gluten.

Ever since I started intermittent fasting, my reactions to gluten have been much less severe and of shorter duration too.

Cancer Fighting 
Cancer cells feed on glucose. During intermittent fasting, the body switches to ketones for energy. Cancer cannot use ketones for energy. This research is by Dr. Mark Mattson.

Better Glucose Regulation 
I did not notice this before I read up. After reading, I can see that it makes sense. I used to be hypersensitive to sugar. Now, I no longer am. I still do stay away from sugar as much as possible, indulging very sparingly but I do notice that when I do take something sweet, I don't feel as ill as I used to.  For the past 6 years, The Son and I have disagreed on his habit of skipping breakfast. It turns out that he is right. Since I started skipping breakfast daily, my health and vitality have improved.

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